CPMF gets off to a Pear(fect) start

Tonight (July 8) the Cactus Pear Music Festival (CPMF) opened its 14th season with a wonderful concert to a large and enthusiastic audience at Coker United Methodist Church. This is a new location for CPMF and Coker is a great place to enjoy a concert. The festival continues for another 10 days and the entire schedule is posted at http://www.cpmf.us/.

No matter where they perform, CPMF creates its own special place. You can feel it as soon as you walk in the door. While the demographics aren’t so different from any other classical music event, you immediately notice that many patrons are wearing CPMF tee-shirts. And not just with this year’s graphics – I saw many tee-shirts with logos from previous festivals. But the parade of CPMF tee-shirts didn’t create an atmosphere where music wasn’t taken seriously. (The audience was very attentive and obviously enjoyed the excellent performances.) You sensed that the crowd was filled with CPMF FANS. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but you sensed that these fans were like good old friends who have shared a wonderful secret for years. They were happy to share this secret with newcomers, but were also filled with a special pride that they were already part of the CPMF family. Certainly the intimacy of chamber music plays a part in creating this atmosphere, but it can’t fully explain the phenomena. The leaders of CPMF must have been working on creating this sense of ownership for years. It shows in so many of their small personal touches – from the somewhat hokey intermission door prizes to the sensitive introductions of the music by each artist – CPMF is a very special place.

The July 8 concert featured pianists Peter Miyamoto and James Winn, clarinetist Ilya Shterenberg, cellist Dmitri Atapine, violist Dave Harding, baritone Timothy Jones and violinist and artistic director Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio. There were two major romantic works, Brahms’ Trio in A minor and Schumann’s Quartet in E-flat major. Both featured playing of great skill, energy, sensitivity and lyricism. Clarinetist Ilya Shterenberg and cellist Dmitri Atapine offered especially captivating performances.

The surprise of the evening was Samuel Barber’s five song set called “Despite and Still.” Timothy Jones has a beautiful voice, but his special skill is the expressive way he made each of these five somewhat quirky songs come to life. Jones hesitated just a moment between each song. He turned slightly away from the audience until he was ready to enter the unique universe of the next short song. It didn’t take more than two notes for the audience to be pulled into the special place he created. Sometimes you hear people say a performer was “musical.” This is what they mean.

After the concert and the post-concert reception, I sat down with Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio and asked her about Cactus Pear.

The next CPMF concerts at Coker are Saturday, July 10 and Thursday, July 15. Go, and find out for yourself how special the Cactus Pear Music Festival will make you feel.